Putting Prayer Into Practice

by Amanda-Paige Whittington, interviewed by Bronwyn Lea

Sophia is the Greek word for Wisdom, and Propel Sophia seeks out the voices of truly wise women and asks them to share worked examples of how they express faith in daily life. Pull up a chair at Sophia’s table, won’t you? There’s plenty of space. Learn more here.

I grew up in church, so I learned early that “I’m praying for you” was the appropriate response to just about anything anybody shared about their lives. But in my early 20’s, I was challenged: I’d better not say “I’m praying for you” unless I was actually going to pray for them. Or else I’d be lying. Prayer had to be a spiritual action, not just a socially appropriate platitude. I knew right then that I would need to develop some new habits in my walk with God. Prayer had to become a discipline, and I needed to be a disciple.

I started by signing up to pray every Friday with a group of women spanning in age from twenties to nineties. These pillars of the faith had been praying for two hours every week for years. My work schedule only allowed me to go for one hour, but I went every week and watched these women turning the concerns of the week into petitions before the Father. They would write down their requests. Sometimes they’d pray long, sometimes they’d pray short— petitions shooting heavenward like popcorn. And week after week, they’d praise God for the way he’d answered.

Spurred on by this practice of regular prayer, my roommates and I dedicated one giant window in our house to prayer requests. We kept dry-erase markers handy and wrote down every request—big or small—and when we got together to pray, we’d take on that list. We prayed for weeks and months over longer term things, and then celebrated together as we saw God move. When I moved house and no longer had a prayer window, my bathroom mirror got repurposed. What better way to get ready in the morning than talking with the Father about the names and needs written on the mirror?

God has been challenging me, too, to pray more in the moment with people if they share a concern in conversation. It is a powerful thing to stand in the gap with someone right then and there. Asking “can I pray for you now?” has sometimes been met with an awkward pause, but more often than not, they’ve been thrilled to have someone pray over them. It’s a wonderful thing to remember to pray later for people, but sometimes God invites us to pray now.

There are seasons in our prayer life: how and when I pray now looks so different from how it did fifteen years ago, and God is still inviting me to walk more closely with Him in prayer. I have no idea of the reality and depth of what God is doing on earth: He’s powerful and active everywhere! But the more I am in the habit of prayer, the more I notice traces of His movement all over the place, and am seeking Him intentionally to know what to pray for.

As I drive to work, I trust the Spirit will nudge me to notice and remember things, and commit them to Him in prayer. When my cell phone alarm goes off with its #middaybabymidday reminder, I shoot up a prayer along with a group of sisters in Christ who have also set alarms to pray for the world, for women, and against injustice. And sometimes, things can come up and it’s not appropriate to pray out loud… but I can still stealth pray, knowing that that I’m joining hands with the Spirit, who intercedes for us all behind the scenes anyway (Romans 8:26-27).

But perhaps the most encouraging practical habit I’ve learned in prayer is to go back and look at the prayer requests written down long ago on the window, the bathroom mirror, and in my journals. There’s nothing that spurs me on to keep praying day by day than seeing how God really *has* answered so many things in such amazing ways. I so often forget what I prayed for, and my heart needs reminding of how faithful He’s been.

More and more, I’m seeing the truth of Psalm 17:6 in practice: “I have called upon you, for you will answer me, O God.”

I have, and He has.

 
Amanda-Paige Whittington

Amanda-Paige Whittington is a Mississippi native currently residing in sunny Southern California where she serves as the Events Manager for Propel Women, A21, and Christine Caine Ministries.

 
Bronwyn Lea

Bronwyn Lea is the editorial curator for Propel Sophia. Find her online here.